Class Action Says Allianz Global Assistance, Jefferson Insurance Co. Wrongfully Denied Travel Cancellation Claims

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Allianz Global Assistance and Jefferson Insurance Company have wrongfully denied travel insurance claims submitted after customers were forced to cancel trips due to stay-home orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a proposed class action alleges. 

The Springfield, Missouri resident behind the 12-page suit says he submitted two claims with the defendants that were to respectively provide $300 and $318.20 in the event his and a companion’s trip to Miami was canceled for any reason. The plaintiff and his companion were forced to cancel their trip in light of Missouri’s stay-home order directing residents to avoid leaving their homes for non-essential purposes, the complaint says.

The plaintiff claims the defendants denied one of his claims and “have either denied or certainly will deny the second” on the wrongful basis that city-, county- or state-ordered quarantine measures are not covered under the trip insurance policies. According to the complaint, the defendants have asserted the plaintiff’s policies exclude losses due to an epidemic, losses due to an event that was “known, foreseeable, intended, or expected” and that coronavirus was not among the “very specific reasons” for which trip cancellation benefits would be triggered.

“Each of the asserted bases for the denial of [the plaintiff’s] claims is without merit, and are unreasonable, without good cause, and made in bad faith,” the lawsuit argues. 

The plaintiff contests that his trip cancellation claims represent a “clearly-covered loss” to which no exclusions of coverage apply. 

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